My new 2023 Model S LR is my third Model S, following my 2013 and my 2016. It's immediately obvious to me that Tesla's stepped up their "perceived quality" game and I can now no longer describe my car as "built by drunks and painted with mops."
Still, they have a way to go. My rear hatch needs work-- it makes a truly horrible sound at the top of its travel when opening-- but I thought this door handle problem was interesting enough to merit a post here.
I've been fortunate and perhaps unusual in having no door handle problems at all with my previous two cars. But a week after I picked up my 2023, the driver side rear door handle stopped presenting. The mobile tech came out and spent half an hour or so poking around in diagnostic mode before concluding the handle mechanism needed to be replaced.
The image below is what we found when he removed the malfunctioning handle. You'll notice the power wires to the handle motor have been physically ripped loose. Normally, they'd exit the cylindrical motor at the upper left of this image, and be secured in clips along the bottom side of the motor. But in the image you can see the wires are actually wrapped around the motor!
See those three red circles? They mark the spot where three screws should have secured the motor to the plastic frame. They were apparently never installed, so the motor was free to rotate under its own torque. After a few handle presentations, the torque of the motor twisting in its frame wrapped the power wires around it and ripped them loose.
Still, they have a way to go. My rear hatch needs work-- it makes a truly horrible sound at the top of its travel when opening-- but I thought this door handle problem was interesting enough to merit a post here.
I've been fortunate and perhaps unusual in having no door handle problems at all with my previous two cars. But a week after I picked up my 2023, the driver side rear door handle stopped presenting. The mobile tech came out and spent half an hour or so poking around in diagnostic mode before concluding the handle mechanism needed to be replaced.
The image below is what we found when he removed the malfunctioning handle. You'll notice the power wires to the handle motor have been physically ripped loose. Normally, they'd exit the cylindrical motor at the upper left of this image, and be secured in clips along the bottom side of the motor. But in the image you can see the wires are actually wrapped around the motor!
See those three red circles? They mark the spot where three screws should have secured the motor to the plastic frame. They were apparently never installed, so the motor was free to rotate under its own torque. After a few handle presentations, the torque of the motor twisting in its frame wrapped the power wires around it and ripped them loose.
